It's A Dog's Life!
by The QAS
Summary: When Mrs. O'Leary and Ceberus have puppies, no one knows what to do with them! How will the camp possibly survive? A story for dog lovers of all kinds RxR! P.S. I don't own PJO
1. Chapter 1

"Mr. D! Mr D!"

"What is it Peter Johnson?" Dionysus demanded, "can't you see that I am very busy?"

"Umm...you're playing Pac Man."

"Exactly! Now what is so important that you had to interrupt my revenge on Blinky?"

"Do you know where Chiron is?"

"Yes, he's at one of those weird meetings with his fellow centaurs in Chicago, now leave me alone!"

"When will he be back?"

Mr. D shrugged, "don't know, don't care."

"But-"

"Aha! Take that, Blinky!"

"Mr. D..."

His face turned purple with rage. "WHAT?!"

"It's Mrs. O'Leary!"

"And do I look like I care what happens to the stupid hellhound?"

"Grover says she says she really likes you..."

"How touching, but unfortunetly that doesn't make a difference to me."

"Do you want me to tell your father Zeus that you were misbehaving again?"

"Now listen here, Patrick-"

"-Percy-"

"-Whatever, you may have done well saving mount Olypious before, but that doesn't make you better than everyone else. You're still just a stuck-up hero."

"Fine, but I'm still telling Zeus."

"_Alright_," he said, annoyed, he letout an exagerated sigh, "this is me pretending to care: what's wrong?"

"Mrs. O'Leary is hardly eating, and she spends most of the time just lying around!"

"Oh, well that's a shame. Too bad, good luck trying to find out what's wrong. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a game to attend."

Percy sighed heavily. Why did he even try with Mr. D?

Just then, Nico came running up to him. His face was pale. "Percy, it's Mrs. O'Leary! You better come, quick! She just-just come on!"

"Wait, what-" but Nico had grabbed him arm and was dragging him to the sword area.

"Look," he pointed.

Grover, Juniper, Annabeth-even Clarisse were standing near the giant hellhound. Mrs. O'Leary lay on her side nursing six two-headed hellhound pups. They were roughly the size of adult Golden Retrievers.

Everyone just stood there, dumbstruck.

Even for once, Clarisse was at loss for words.

It was Annabeth who spoke first. "P...puppies?" she gasped.

"But how-"

"I saw her in the underworld a few times," Nico admitted, "she...she was with Cerberus."

"...Were they-um....you know....."

Nico shook his head. "I don't know, not that I saw anyway. I only noticed they were playing together."

"That's where she kept dissapearing off too! Bad girl, Mrs. O'Leary!"

The mastiff whimpered.

"What will we do with them?"

"Well, whatever you decide to do," Clarisse said, "keep those demon dogs away from me!" and with that, she stormed off.

"My dad...he's always looking for new hellhounds," Nico said, "once they're mature enough, like a few months old, I bet I can convince him to take take them. And Mrs. O'Leary could visit whenever she wanted. But in the meantime....."

"We're going to need a **very** large pooper-scooper."


	2. Chapter 2

"FETCH doggies!" Tyson said as he threw a tree about fifty feet.

Mrs. O'Leary and her pups ran after it (dogs weren't suppose to mature that fast, but Nico assured me it was perfectly normal for hellhounds to get a jump start, I took his word for it. After all, if anyone knows about hellhounds it's Nico.)

It'd been two week since the puppies were born, and they were about three or four times as big now, reaching the size of a young black bear.

We had called Tyson up to help out, since he was the only one who could reach the top of their heads.

We had given all of them names:

There was Atlanta, named after the Greek heroine, she was the youngest and smallest--yet the smartest and fastest of all the puppies, she could run nonstop for hours and hours. Annabeth had named her.

Achillies was the quiet one, but very sweet.

Ajax was super brave, he'd lunge at anything--yet again there wasn't much for a hellhound to be afraid of!

Kassandra was a bit of each, a little shy, but nearly as clever as Atlanta, we called her "Kassey".

After Odysseus's wife Penelope, we named another Penny.

And the last one Tyson named: Mr. Snuggles.

"ROOF!" Atlanta bounded back happily with the tree in her mouth, and a gleeful glint of triumph in her eye.

Tyson tried to grab the tree out of her mouth, but Atlanta pulled back, apparently in no mood for sharing.

Tyson fell back, as the tree broke in half.

She let out a howl in victory and laid down to chew on her prize.

Kassey and Ajax began to play-wrestle with each other, Mr. Snuggles chassed his tail, and Achillies and Penny went off to go snuggle with their mother.

Percy let out a sigh of relief, and leaned against Thalia's pine tree.

It was a calm peaceful day.

But when you're a half-blood nothing will stay that way for long...

* * *

**Sorry this was so short :P **

**I'll try to make the next one longer! **

**Review! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Note- This story is dedicated to my Golden Retriever, Vanilla.**

**WHERE DOES THE NAME "MRS. O'LEARY" COME FROM?**

**Have any of you heard of the "Great Chicago Fire"? It happened in the 1800's and started at _Mrs. O'Leary's_ farm! It was rumored that a cow knocked over a lantern, but later reserch shows that it's more likely some people were playing cards and knocked over a lantern.

* * *

**Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep against the pine tree. I hadn't realized till then just how tired I really was-but hey, training hellhound pups is hard work!

I was a woken with a start when I heard someone scream really loudly in my ear. "Boo!"

"YAH!" I woke up, hitting my head against the tree. Instintivley, I uncapped riptide.

"Again! Really, I thought we already talked about this! God-I mean _Gods_, Percy you don't have to kill someone every time you hear a sound."

I knew that voice. I turned around. "Rachel?"

"Yep, I was waiting by the boundary for hours, I tried to wake you up but you were fast asleep. So I had to wait two hours until Jake saw me and finally let me in. Wow, you think people would show more respect than to keep their oracles waiting!"

"Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be at that fancy boarding school for young ladies that your dad wanted you to go to?"

Rachel sighed. "I _was_, but then I had a--a feeling that something was going to-"

She doubled over as if she was in pain. Her eyes glowed green, and spoke as if there were three of her. I could never get used to that look:

_"A curse is said from down below. _

_To a dark place filled with deep sorrow. _

_five half-blood will have to go. _

_On a journey filled with time they in which will feel remorse,_

_Or laugh so hard they will be horse. _

_But in the end when when all seems lost. _

They will be saved if they flossed.

_They will know just what to do,_

_If they use the right shampoo_."

I had heard a lot of prophecies in my time. But never had I ever heard one that sounded so stupid! I mean, shampoo? If they floss? What was that supposed to mean?


	4. Chapter 4

When the Hellhounds were born they started out grey, but now that they were getting older, and according to Nico, they started getting fur patterns at about a month old--

I took his word for it, if anyone knew about Hellhounds, it was Nico.

They were pretty weird-looking. All of them had two heads-because Cerberus had three and Mrs. O'Leary had one. One head was a Rottweiller, the other, a Mastiff, but their bodies were a strange combanation of both.

Now they were between the size of Grizzly bears and Polar bears, and they didn't look like they were going to stop any time soon.

But our biggest problem was their energy. The puppies were now more hyper than ever, not to mention at their teething stage, so they ALWAYS needed something to chew on, on else...they'd find something _themselves_. But it was last night where the REAL problem began:

It was about two in the morning. I was sleeping, when I heard a scream.

It was Clarrise.

The last time I'd heard her scream like that was four years ago in the cyclop's cave.

And even though I'd never been a big fan of the Ares cabin, I couldn't stand to hear her scream like that. I knew she'd probably be on my trail forever--because she hated help from anyone, she'd rather die in war, but still, I couldn't just leave her.

Without thinking, I ran to the Ares cabin.

The entire roof of the cabin was chewed off. And standing there was Mr. Snuggles.

At first she just stood there, her face red with rage (her pajamas had swords on them--I'm not kidding), then suddenly, she belted out in a huge voice, "CHIRON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chiron, trotted over. He was wearing just a pajama shirt, and a night cap. "What's-oh no..."

Fortunetly, all the Ares campers made it out alright (yeah, all SIX of them, most were away for the school year, but I had agreed to stay and help with the pups.)

Connor and Travis Stoll came up to see what the comotion was about (probably to see if it was possible to play a quick prank in all the confusion.) "Hey what's happen-what the--"

"We didn't do it!" Travis said quickly, he and his brother, held up their hands and put on innocent smiles.

If I wasn't so worried, I would've laughed.

"I WANT THE DEAMON DOGS OUT OF HERE!!!" Clarrise shouted. "THEY GO OR I GO!!!!!"

"Works for me," Connor muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

The sound of Clarisse's screaming scared poor Mr. Snuggles away. It took us forever to find him.

"Why are you all looking for that stupid dog?" Clarisse demanded. "My cabin is missing a roof! I want it fixed!"

No paid any attention to her, we were all to busy searching the area for a polar-bear-sized-dog.

And with everyone looking, except for the Ares cabin who were on strike, the dog was still nowhere to be seen.

We even took out Mrs. O'Leary and her other pups to help serch.

By the end of the day, there was no sucsess.

* * *

It was two weeks later. I was about to go to bed, when I saw Nico, he was staring at nothing.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"It's Mr. Snuggles, I can sense him (Nico, since he's the son of Hades, can sense certain things that have to do with death.) He's in the city."

"Oh, gee well, THAT sure is comforting! He could be anywhere!"

Nico nodded, he had seemed by far the most upset about lossing the Hellhound. Everyone else had pretty much given up. The Ares cabin roof was already rebuilt, because no one wanted Clarisse to be angry. I hadn't forgotten him, neither had Tyson. He would still spend long hours of the day crying and calling "Doggie come home" again and again. He had a special bond with Mr. Snuggles, and I knew the poor cyclops would never be the same without his to-headed friend.

Mrs, O'Leary as well had changed. She'd spend long hours of every night howling for her child. It was horrable to see her like this. I hadn't heard her howl like that since Quintus/Daedalus had died.

But who knew what had happened to him. For all we knew, he could've been in Canada by now.

But what could we do? We couldn't exactly go around with fliers that said: "lost Hellhound". Mortals saw Mrs. O'Leary as a poodle, but it wasn't garanteed they'd see Mr. Snuggles as one two. Maybe he would be a poodle mixed with whatever people saw Cerberus as.

"I'm going to find him," Nico said.

"Now? In the middle of the night?"

"It'll be safest then."

"Without permission?"

"Since when have YOU ever left with permission."

"That was different-"

"Don't you want to find him?"

"Well, yeah...but--"

"Then, come on."

I hesitated. Was it so much of an emergency that it couldn't wait till morning?

But slowly, I followed after him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Yes, I'm alive! Sorry I didn't update in like forever!**

**This chapter is short, but I promise to update soon, maybe even tomarrow if I get the chance! **

**Enjoy (and review!) ;D**

* * *

"Nico, it's almost morning. Don't you think it's about time we head back?"

"No!" he snapped, starttling me, "I mena, no," he said in a much calmer voice, "he's close, I can feel it."

"You've been saying that the past four hours."

"But this time I mean it!"

"You mean like the other twelve times you 'really meant it'?"

It was around two am, Nico and I had searched just about everywhere in Manhattan.

"Nico," I said gently. "If he's not here, who knows where the hellhound pup could be? For all we know, he's in China by now."

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right, I was just so sure that-never mind."

We were about to head back when Nico stopped.

He turned to me. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"SHHHH! Listen!"

I listened as well as I could, I could just make out a faint whimper coming from the nearby animal shelter. But it wasn't just any whimper, it sounded very familiar...

Nico and I exchanged glances. "Do you think..."

"YES!" Nico cried. "It HAS to be!" he ran into the pound, which gave me no choice but to follow.

"Nico," I said, "what are the odds that-"

"WOOF!" a giant tongue licked my face.


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on, let's grab the dog and get otta here!" Percy said.

Nico looked back. "We can't just leave the others here like this."

"Since when do you care about the living?" Percy demanded. Then he realized he had gone to far, "sorry."

Nico didn't answer, he just stared at all the dogs. There were about fifty in all, crammed up in tiny cages.

There was a Siberian Husky missing an eye; a Boxer with only three legs; a Jack Rusell with an ear torn off.

The dogs were in horrible shape, some scratching at the bars, trying to get free; some were howling or whimpering; and some were just cowering in the corner of the cage, shivering in fear.

Percy knew the feeling of what it was like to be trapped with no way out. Scared and confused. Not knowing if you'll make it out alive. Nico was right, it would be wrong to leave them like this. But still, what were they supossed to do?

He would have to be strong. "C'mon, let go, Nico."

"But-"

"Come on."

Nico took one last look at the whimpering dogs. "Okay, let's shaddow-travel to get there quicker."

"You're forgetting one little detail: I can't shaddow travel!"

"You can ride Mr. Snuggles, duh!"

* * *

When they returned, Percy looked at the lake, the sun was just rising on the horrizon. They had made it just in time!

But Percy couldn't get the image out of his head of all those dogs.

"You okay?" Nico asked.

Mr. Snuggles tilted his heads considerately. "Woof?"

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine. Just fine."

* * *

**Animal shelters are depressing, I'm donating money 2 them Yay! **

**Don't think I forgot about the quest, we're about to find out soon. Can any of you guess what it will be? It is going to be very unexpected! **

**Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know, I know, this chapter is short. **

**Thanx 4 all the reviews, they really mean a lot 2 me**

**Sorry I couldn't update, I was grounded :P**

**Please review!**

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It had acured to them that Mr. Snuggles was dirty, they just hadn't realized HOW dirty. He was covered for heads to toe in mud, dirt, gravel, grass, and some other stuff, Percy really didn't want to know about. Now that the sun was coming up, and you could see the stuff in his fur more easily, Percy longed for the darkness again.

Unsurprisingly, the Stoll brothers, Connor and Travis, were both up and fully dressed, tip-toeing up to the Aphrodite cabin with a feather in one hand, and whip cream in the other.

"Hey," Nico said.

"GAH! WE didn't do it!" the brothers dropped their things, in fright.

"Oh, thank the gods," Connor said in relief, "it's just you two. Hi, Mr. Snuggles-Wait a minute, MR SNUGGLES?"

"SHHHHHH!"

"Wow," Travis cried, running over to the hellhound, touching it, as if to make sure it wasn't an illusion. "How did you find him?"

Percy and Nico proudly told them about their brave rescue.

When they done, the twins nodded aprovingly. "You two snuck out? Impressive..."

Connor held his nose. "Not that I'm unhappy to see him and all that, but that thing reeks!"

"Well we have some...unfinnished bisnes to attend," his brother added. The Stoll brother dissapeared into the shaddows.

"Well," Nico said, "they'll be coming around to wake us up soon. We might as well get like two minutes of sleep."

Percy yawned in agreement. Sleep would be nice.

Percy forced himself into bed, he hadn't felt this tired in a long time. That night, he dreamed about lonely sad puppies, locked up in shelters.


End file.
